Dicing

Wafer dicing is the process by which a wafer is cut into individual die pieces.

We have both mechanical and laser dicing.

Our mechanical dicing saws can handle wafers up to 12 inches in diameter with positional accuracy of better than 5 microns. Cut width (or kerf) can be as small as 20 microns. Most dicing and grooving requirements can be handled by these tools. These tools are still the most cost effective method to process hard brittle materials.

Our laser capabilities include a Synova tool that uses water as an optical waveguide to direct the laser beam to the cutting path on the wafer. Using this technique results in a cut with minimal heat damage near the ablation point, with no re-deposition of material and very straight sidewalls. This process is typically used to core a wafer. Coring a wafer is the process of creating a smaller wafer or multiple smaller wafers out of a larger wafer.

We also have dicing before grinding (DBG). The normal sequence for these processes is to first thin the wafer (backgrinding) and then to dice it. However, there are times when it is preferable to dice before backgrinding (DBG). This requires cutting into the wafer but not through the wafer. When the wafer is thinned by the backgrinding process the die pieces are released. This results in die pieces with minimal backside chipping.